Akin Madness

We were so excited to get all SIX Akin kids together for the first time at Jon and Ashley' house. Sadly, Granddaddy, Lottie and Uncle Nate weren't there to witness the madness (and it was madness)-we sure missed them! We ate dinner and then watched (well, some joined in-ha) the little ones play together. We hadn't seen Paul's brother Jon or his family in almost 2 years, so we had so much to catch up on. It was also so good to meet our niece (who is now ONE) and nephew (who is exactly a week older than Jordan) for the first time. Such fun memories were made and we can't wait for many more to be made in the future :)

Baby swap...

Girls with our kiddos (Anna: Levi and Judah, Ashley: Maddy and Emma Grace, and Kari: Micah and Jordan)
Boys turn (Tim: Levi and Judah, Jon: Maddy and Emma Grace, Paul: Micah and Jordan)
Jon meeting Jordan

Maddy and Micah

Emma Grace and Levi
Maddy teaching Micah ALL about princesses...I don't know how his Daddy feels about this :)
Such a sweet girl
Kids table!!
Tim and Judah


Trouble :)

Little boys enjoying a ride in a Barbie Jeep!?!

Too precious...the kids crowding around the computer to skype with Lottie and Uncle Nate.

Off to KY...

Once we left Paul's family in NC, we had a 9 hour drive to KY. In Jordan we never had to use car seats since we taxied everywhere, so I was a little worried how Micah would do in one for such a long trip. However, both kids did great the entire trip. We made it to Louisville with no problems and it was just so good to see my family and home city! :)

Yes, Micah was seriously obsessed with this Fantasy Football magazine-takes after his Daddy for sure! Kind of scary-haha.

EMILY!! So fun running into you-I've missed you!!

Yay for seeing my sister Blair! It had been over a year and it was so good to be reunited and to introduce her to JK.

Reunited with my sweet family :) Love you all so much!

Left Overs

Here are a few of my favorite "left over" family pictures from our time in NC. Enjoy :)

The Taylor's

We couldn't wait to see our close friends, the Taylor's. Drew and Lindsay are a constant encouragement to us and it was so good to spend some time with them. It was great seeing their new home and seeing how the Lord is using them right now. Their precious boy, Noah, had grown so much since we had last seen him. He is about a year younger than Micah, and it was fun to see them play together. Lindsay went all out and cooked us a delicious meal for lunch-we were spoiled :) Come see us in Birmingham soon!!!! We love ya'll...

From Kenya to NC

God is so good. Many of our coworkers from Kenya now live in North Carolina, and so we got to meet up with them while visiting Paul's family. Such a small world :) It had been over a year since we had seen them and we had a lot of catching up to do.

We first visited with Rebecca and Danielle. I was excited for them to meet Jordan, and they couldn't believe how much Micah had changed. They were with Micah pretty much everyday from the time he was 6mos until 15mos. It was so good to see their faces and to hear how the Lord is using them now. They are great friends and we all went through a lot together. We are so thankful our paths crossed while working together in Kenya. Love you girls!!

Jet Lagging on a Farm

The very first night we were back in town we were invited out to our friends farm. I must say, it was VERY therapeutic and just what we needed! After living overseas in a noisy environment, this might have been one of the most peaceful places we possibly could have come. We ate dinner and enjoyed a delicious cobbler (which I had missed very much!) and then headed out to see the animals. Paul, Micah and I got to ride horses, which was a nice treat! I have never ridden seriously, but will take the opportunity to casually ride any day :) After I got off, Paul must have ridden for another hour or so. He later told me that we need to buy a horse one day. Haha...we will see about that ;) I sort of agreed, but it must be a well trained one. I think Paul and I could have stayed out there forever that night, besides the fact that we were major jet lagging. Paul's poor parents were about to crash inside while waiting for Paul to finish ridding. It was just a perfect place to free our minds and to pray. Thanks Humphrey's :)

Micah and sweet Mr. Jay :)

I love how you can see the old farm house in the back of this picture.

The inside crew.

Places to Be & People to See

Our time in NC absolutely flew by! We tried to see as many people as possible while also spending quality time with family. It didn't help that all SIX of us we sick within a two days of arriving back to the States. It must have been all the lovely germs recirculating over and over on the plane...it really is quite gross to think about. Jordan had a runny nose and a horrible sounding cough, so I tried to take her to the doctor before it turned into anything too bad...but it was too late :( She already had a double ear infection and was immediately put on a full round of antibiotics. Yuck.

Here are a few pictures of the friend's we were able to see-most of them were just anxious to meet Jordan :)

Getting to finally meet Griffin :)